Kochi: Kerala High Court on Monday directed the State government and State Police Chief to ensure that no demonstration, agitation, assembling or collection expression of opinions is held on the Court premises and on the roads and streets surrounding them. A division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Thottathil B. Radhakrishnan and Justice Anu Sivaraman passed the order on a suo motu proceeding initiated by it in the wake of the recent events involving journalists and lawyers.
“The police have the constitutional and statutory duties to ensure that there was no impairment whatsoever to the smooth conduct of the court proceedings and facilities for access to justice including physical access by the citizens to seats of justice, namely courts,” the bench said. “Therefore, every seat of the judiciary has to be insulated from any manner of intrusion by whomsoever it may be, when such intrusion itself would be inversely proportional to the progression of the constitutional and societal goals.”
“Access to justice is an indefeasible component of collective existence of any society. This can, in no manner, be belittled by any act, individually or collectively, impairing or tending to impair the appropriate functioning of judicial institutions,” the order, mailed by the court's public relations officer, said.
It said the suo motu proceedings initiated under Article 226 of the Constitution of India were taking note of the immense public importance and public interest having regard to the needs of the people to have the functioning of judicial institutions including the High Court of Kerala to be carried in the manner in which it is envisaged under the Constitution.
The court also restrained the use of announcement systems on all the roads within the 200 metres radius from the road encircling the Court building. The conducive manner in which the people can have fearless access to the highest seat of judicial authority is to ensure that there is no semblance of unlawful intrusion or brow-beating by any individual or groups, it said. “It is within the police power of the State to ensure such protective measures,” the court held.
